Unpleasant Acquaintances
by JulieLucia
Summary: ON HIATUS! When Bella and Edward meet for the first time it's anything but love at first sight. But maybe fate or Alice has other plans
1. Chapter 1 Nice to meet you Anyway

**_A/N: _Welcome to Unpleasant Acquaintances, my first attempt to write fanfiction. **

**I owe a million thanks to by twi*soulmate, great friend and beta Dahlia Black for all her awesomeness!**

**Disclaimer: SM owns all things Twilight, but the plot is all mine.**

Chapter 1. (Nice To Meet You) Anyway

"Bella! Bella wake up!"

"Go away Alice, I'm sleeping" I mumbled, trying to ignore my best friend and roommate who was bouncing up and down on my bed, trying to wake me.

"No Bella wake up! Seriously! He's coming today! Edward is coming!" she exclaimed while she continued her bouncing and started poking me in the ribs. I decided to give in and get up. I didn't really care about Edward, I had never met him anyway, but Alice was certainly excited that her twin brother finally was returning from Europe.

Edward had left for Europe a little over a year ago. He had gotten a scholarship from some fancy French university just before I met Alice and became her roommate. I had heard a lot (a lot!) about him from Alice and their older brother Emmett. Alice made it sound like he was the prodigal son finally returning home to the mother ship. Emmett just mainly made fun of him, stating that Edward suffered permanently from IMS (Irritable Male Syndrome).

I had no idea where Alice got all that energy from that early in the morning, she was still bouncing on my bed, but I needed coffee before I could deal with her. I walked out to the kitchen to get some, only to find Jasper, Alice's boyfriend and best friend to Edward, standing completely naked in the kitchen pouring coffee.

"Jeeez Jasper! Could you put on some clothes for once! I live here too you know," I exclaimed trying to look away and covering my eyes at the same time.

"Relax Bella, why are you always so cranky in the morning?" he laughed and handed me some coffee, clearly not bothered by the fact that he didn't have any clothes on at all.

"I like you Jasper, I really do, but I don't need to see this much of you every morning. Especially when I haven't had coffee yet," I said, taking small sips from my cup, trying to not to look at him. Why was it so difficult for him to put some clothes on before he left Alice's room? Was he opposed to clothes or something since he always walked around here naked?

Suddenly the phone rang; I reached out to answer it, still trying my best not to look at the very naked Jasper.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Good morning Bella," Dr. Cullen's friendly voice was on the other end of the line, "could you tell Alice that we'll be there in 10 minutes or so to pick her up, we're just swinging by Emmett's first. And tell Jasper that if he wants to come with us to pick up Edward, he needs to put on some clothes first," Dr. Cullen chuckled before he hung up. I really didn't want to know how Dr. Cullen knew about Jasper's aversion to clothes.

"Alice!" I shouted, "Your dad just called, they'll be here in 10 minutes."

"Enough with the yelling Bella, I'm done already, which is more than I can say about you," she said disapproving as she walked out of her room and discovered that I was still in my PJ's.

I decided to ignore her; I wasn't going to pick up the prodigal son, so I turned to Jasper:

"Dr. Cullen said that if you wanted to come along too, you had to put some clothes on. And I _don't_ want to know how he knows that you always walk around here naked." Jasper just laughed, gave Alice a kiss and walked to her bedroom to, hopefully, get dressed. Alice raised an eyebrow, as if to ask why I wasn't getting dressed either.

"Cut it out Alice," I sighed, "I've never met Edward and I'm not going to come with the airport with you guys to pick him up. It's a family event, let it stay that way. I'm just going to stay here and get some studying done. And I'm _not_ going to decorate the apartment either," I added. Knowing Alice, that would be her next question. Alice was all about shopping, decorating and theme parties. I really wasn't.

"Your dad said they were picking Emmett up on the way here, so they'll be here any minute," I informed Alice.

"Shit, Bella! Why didn't you say that before? Jasper, get dressed! Now! Emmett's coming!" she hissed with panic in her eyes. I could hear Jasper moving around in Alice's bedroom. Apparently threatening that Emmett was coming would make him put on clothes faster, I had to remember that.

"Really Alice, why don't you just come clean and tell Emmett you guys are dating. You have been seeing each other for months. Everyone else knows and Emmett is nothing but a big friendly teddy bear."

"Well, the friendly teddy bear will turn into a very angry grizzly when he has to defend his little sister's virtue," Alice answered, looking nervously at the door as if she was expecting Emmett to walk through it anytime.

"But he knows Jasper's here all the time, he must suspect something," I said.

"Emmett thinks I'm dating you Bella," Jasper answered from Alice's bedroom.

"Why would he think that?!" I asked, completely puzzled. That was not the answer I was expecting.

"Because I've been telling him that I come over here so much to study with you," Jasper chuckled.

"Seriously? Come on Jasper, Emmett is not stupid. You and I take none of the same classes, why would he think you're helping me study?" I was not liking the direction this conversation had taken.

"Well, that's why he thinks there's something going on between you and me," Jasper answered, sounding amused by my reaction.

"Oh come on! Is that why the last few times he's been asking me about how my studying is going, he's been dying of laughter? Seriously Jasper, thanks a lot," I said, adding as much sarcasm as possible into my voice. I _so_ didn't need this.

"That would be why," Jasper said, returning from the bedroom, still laughing. Really, did nothing ever upset him?

Alice just rolled her eyes, grabbed a fully dressed Jasper by the hand and left the apartment to pick up her long missed twin brother.

When Alice came home again after a few hours, she was accompanied by Dr. Cullen.

"Hi Bella," he greeted me.

"Hi Dr. Cullen," I said, blushing. Dr. Cullen always made me a little nervous. He might be my best friend's dad, but he was a hot dad.

"Bella, what have I told you before? Only my patients call me Dr. Cullen, everyone else calls me Carlisle. I'm just here to pass on an invitation. Esme just sent me make sure you would come over for dinner tonight, Bella. I don't think she'll take no for an answer."

"Thanks Doct... ehm Carlisle. I'd love to." I still blushed, thankful that Emmett wasn't there too. It would be right up his alley to make fun of me getting all red faced in front of his dad.

"Great. I'll see you girls later."

"How come you're home now Alice? I thought you'd stay with your family today, hang out with Edward?" I asked, as Carlisle walked out the door.

"Bella, my brother just spent 10 hours on a plane, he's jet lagged and cranky and he didn't exactly smell like roses either. He's gone home with mom and dad to sleep and hopefully shower, and then we'll all go over there tonight. But it was so great seeing him, I really missed him," Alice said. Her eyes always lit up when she spoke of her twin brother.

I spend the rest of the day curled up on the sofa reading _Gone With The Wind, _getting so wrapped up in the world of Scarlet O'Hara that I completely forgot about time. I was therefore surprised when Alice came out of her room, announcing that it was time for us to get going if we wanted make it to dinner in time.

"Shouldn't we have left like 20 minutes ago?" I asked, realizing what time it was. "We were supposed to be there at 7."

"We have plenty of time, I'll even make it with minutes to spare," Alice answered, looking like she smelled a challenge, while she grabbed her car keys.

"Make that a bet, Cullen. Even you can't make the drive there in time. If I win you will not be allowed to throw a theme parties for 6 months," I laughed as we got ready to walk out the door.

"Oh you're on Swan! And if I win, you have to let me dress you up for every one of them, without complaining," Alice smirked as she got in the car, she was clearly already cooking up some evil plan. Oh joy.

Alice pulled into up in front of her parents house at exactly 6.58, she had been driving like a maniac the whole time. It was without contest the most scary car ride I had ever experienced, I was surprised we made it there in one piece. As Alice turned off the engine, she just pointed at the clock, looking incredibly smug. Right, never bet against Alice.

We were the last to arrive. Jasper, Emmett and Rosalie- Emmett's girlfriend, were already there, talking with Carlisle and a guy I assumed to be Edward.

"Come on Bella, I'll introduce you to Edward," Alice said, dragging me over to the rest of the family.

They all greeted us warmly, even Rosalie for a change. That was new.

"Nice to meet you Edward, I'm Bella, Alice's roommate," I said introducing myself. Edward just looked up, nodded briefly and continued his conversation with Emmett. That was weird, all the other Cullens were always so warm and friendly, he was just plain rude. He could at least have said hello, I wasn't expecting a big hug or something. Maybe he would be more talkative once he had something to eat. Just then Esme came out from the kitchen, announcing that dinner was on the table.

"Wait, who cooked?" Emmett asked suspiciously, eyeing his mother in the kitchen.

"Don't worry son," Carlisle stage-whispered as he got up, "I did. Your mom only made the salad."

Emmett sighed in relief. Esme was a wonderful woman with many talents, cooking was just not one of them. Carlisle however was an amazing cook, so I was just as relieved as Emmett to discover that he was the one who had made dinner. Whenever Alice and I had been invited over for dinner, and Esme did the cooking, we always had to make a stop at whatever fast food restaurant we passed on the way home. Esme really was terrible in the kitchen, but that didn't prevent her from making an effort.

The dinner conversation flowed easily, Edward seemed very talkative around his family, telling all about France. He had the most amazing velvet voice and while listening to his stories I got a chance to get closer look at him. Like the rest of his family, he was very good looking. He had thick messy bronze colored hair and the most beautiful green emerald eyes I'd ever seen. I decided to try to talk to him again, hoping I would be more successful in my attempt this time.

"So Edward, what exactly was it you were studying in France? Alice just said it had something to do with music," I asked.

"It did," he answered short. He had a weird look in his eyes, like he was mad at me or something. He couldn't be mad at me, he didn't know me.

"Edward was accepted to a music academy in Paris, he's a very talented musician," Esme answered, looking proudly at Edward.

"Speaking of studies Bella," Emmett said turning towards me with a smug look in his eyes, "how is your studying coming along?" Did he just emphasize the word _coming_? This can't be good.

Now knowing that he was probably not talking about my studies, but my fake affair with Jasper, I couldn't help but blush. Naturally that just made Emmett tease me even more, I really wished Jasper hadn't told me about this. Carlisle eyed Emmett suspiciously, he wasn't used to his oldest son taking such a interest in other peoples studies. Emmett just continued:

"You sure have been _hitting_ the books _hard_ lately Bella. I bet it's been helping getting Jasper's G.P.A _up. _How are your classes Jasper? They sound really _hard_."

"Jasper!" I hissed, "Can I talk to you in the kitchen for a minute? Now!" Jasper hurried after me, followed by booming laughter from Emmett.

"You have got to tell him! I already can't stand it, and it's only been going on for a day, you've gotta tell him," I hissed, once we were in the kitchen where they others couldn't hear us.

"It's just because I told you that he thinks you and I are dating, you didn't mind before."

"That's cause I didn't know before! I do now and there's no way I'll be able to stand this."

"Really Jasper," Rosalie said, coming in to the kitchen, "just get out of the non-gay closet and stop using Bella as your beard."

"So you think he won't mind?" Jasper asked her.

"Oh he'll mind. You've been sleeping with his little sister for months and you didn't tell him about it. He'll kill you Jasper." For once Rosalie looked genuinely amused, but Jasper just looked equally nervous. That did not seem promising, Jasper was never nervous.

I imagined myself getting stuck in a fake relationship with Jasper for years. The longer it went on the harder it would be to get out of, and he clearly wasn't keen on telling Emmett about it now after what Rosalie had just said.

The rest of the evening went on very much like it had at dinner: Emmett continued to make fun of me and Edward continued to look angry at me and ignored whatever question I tried to ask him. He should have been named Assward instead, that would have fitted his personality better, clearly the guy was an ass. A good looking ass, but an ass nonetheless.

Driving home, Alice couldn't stop talking about Edward and how great he was. I didn't have the heart to tell her that for once I agreed with Emmett. Edward really did permanently suffer from IMS.

**End note: So... What do you think?**


	2. Chapter 2 Bad Day

**A/N: As always thanks to Dahlia Black for being my beta. I also wanted to let you all know that I'm entering the Back2Skool UNFmett here on ffnet. My entry is called While She Was Away and can be found on my profile. Check it out and vote for your favorite in the contest.**

The next few weeks settled into a steady routine where Emmett never missed a chance to tease me and Edward continued not speaking to me. He did spend a lot of his time at our apartment as he and Alice had a lot of catching up to do. He often stayed for the night, sleeping on our couch. One would think that after a certain amount of time he would start speaking to me, but he didn't. Only if I asked him a direct question would he mumble the shortest answer possible.

I didn't really feel like talking to Alice about it. She was so happy to have her brother back that that I didn't really feel like asking her if she could think of any reason for his odd behavior. I tried asking Emmett once, but he just blamed it on Edward's IMS and then started teasing me about Jasper again. I tried thinking of all possible solutions to why he wouldn't talk to me, but I couldn't think of a reasonable one. I just had to come to terms with the fact that apparently Edward simply didn't like me.

One night, after visiting my dad, I came home late and automatically switched the light on in the living room. I hadn't noticed that Edward was sleeping on the couch and he sat up, startled by the light.

"Sorry," I mumbled. "I didn't mean to wake you." I continued to the kitchen, wanting some water before going to bed.

"Bella?" Wow, it speaks, that's a surprise. "Would you mind getting me some water too?" Edward asked.

"Sure Ass... ehm... Edward, no problem." _Great Bella, nice job almost calling him Assward to his face. That will make him like you._

I came back into the living room, handed him the glass of water, not really expecting any further conversation.

"Thanks. Did you have a nice evening with your dad?" _Did he just ask me something or was I so tired I was hallucinating?_ I turned around, facing him. He did look like he was waiting for an answer.

"Sure, it was fine," I answered hesitantly, not really sure where this was going.

"Good, I'm glad. Good night Bella," he smiled.

"Good night Edward." My head was spinning when I got to my room. Why was he being nice all of a sudden? He had acted perfectly normal just now. Why? Stupid Emoward, impossible to figure out.

I could have saved myself the headache, because the next morning everything was back to normal in the apartment; Edward had gone back to ignoring me over night.

When I got into the kitchen in the morning he was gathering his stuff, getting ready to leave.

"Good morning," I said, while making coffee, not yet aware of the fact that I once again was being ignored. He didn't answer, so I tried again, a little louder this time.

"Good morning Edward." I even remembered calling him his actual name this time, but still no answer.

"Seriously Edward, what the heck is your problem?" I exploded, I had it with his stupid mood swings. Finally a reaction, he looked at me with a slightly confused look to his face.

"With....?"

"With me! I'm so sick of your attitude and the way you always ignore me. It seems like you hate me, but I can't think of a reason why. Why are you ignoring me all the time? Why are you being such an idiot around me? What have I done to you that makes me deserve that? Riddle me that Edward!"

"Batman? Really?" He looked at me slightly amused, his green eyes sparkling. "No really Bella. I don't hate you," he said with a serious tone, the amusement gone.

"Then what Edward?" I was furious and I was yelling quite loudly. I really hoped Alice wasn't home to hear this.

"It's complicated, I can't explain. It's just... I don't hate you, Bella. I really don't."

"You're really being an ass around me!"

"I know, I'm sorry. But... I have to go." He rushed to pick up the last of his stuff and hurried out the door, leaving me standing with a dumb look on my face. I had no idea what had just happened. I definitely needed coffee for this.

I sat down, trying to think things through. He claimed not to hate me, he even apologized for his weird behavior and then he rushed out the door. It made no sense. I was bound to be getting some serious headaches over this guy.

"Good morning Bella, did you sleep well?" Alice came out of her room, looking more happy than usual. That often meant she had some evil plan, very often involving dragging me out for some much dreaded shopping.

"Sure." I was a little hesitant, I tried to think of a quick excuse to get out of her shopping plans.

"So I was wondering if you remembered that little bet of ours?" she asked with a smug look on her face. This definitely involved torturing me with shopping.

"I vaguely remember something about a bet," I smiled, still trying to come up with a good excuse to get out if it.

"Well I figured out a great theme, and we're going shopping for it today. And you can't make up excuses to get out of it, 'cause when I asked you yesterday if you had plans, you said no. So whatever excuses you're trying to come up with, they won't work." Damn it, I had forgotten about that. It was like she could predict what I had planned.

"Fine," I sighed, "what's the theme?"

"I'll tell you later. Just get dressed, I'll call Rosalie and ask if she wants to come with us."

Rosalie came by an hour later to pick us up, and it was clear from the beginning that she was in on the theme as well, because she and Alice spent the entire car ride talking about possible costumes. I tried to guess what the theme was, but the more they talked about it the more confused I got, so I gave up. I wasn't exactly into it anyway.

I probably should have been paying better attention, because just as we entered the mall Alice looked at me, took some of my hair between her fingers and said:

"Your hair is so pretty Bella, it will be a shame to cut and color it."

"Why would I do that Alice? My hair is fine, and I have no intention of either cutting or coloring it." It came out a little angrier than I intended, but there was no way I was getting a haircut just to fit in with Alice's stupid theme.

"Relax Bella, she's not gonna cut it, she's joking. But you do need a wig, otherwise the outfit won't work," Rosalie said, looking more closely at me, "and I need silver stilettos, a white dress and something for Emmett as well, but I'm not sure I can get that here."

"Alright, are you two gonna tell me the theme or not?" I sighed.

"I'll tell you the theme, but not who you're going to look like yet. You'll be much more difficult once I tell you, so I think it's better if we wait. I don't want you to make a scene here at the mall," Alice said. Annoying little pixie.

"We're all gonna dress up as musicians or singers,"Rosalie chimed in. "Emmett and I are going as Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe." Rosalie would look stunning as Marilyn, and I figured Emmett would be pretty great as Elvis too. I just hoped they would pick someone normal for me, like Kelly Clarkson or something else really boring. Not one with many weird costumes.

"Wasn't Marilyn more of an actress than singer?" I asked Rosalie. She shrugged her shoulders

"I guess, but she did sing too, and Emmett really wants to be Elvis and I figured they would go well together."

"Who are you going to be Alice?"

"Katy Perry, and Jasper as Bono. I'm not sure about Edward, he won't tell me," Alice huffed, clearly annoyed that she didn't know what Edward was gonna going to look like. She didn't like being in the dark.

"And you still won't tell me what I'm going to be?" I asked, still hoping for someone boring.

"Nope, but I'll tell you this much. You need a blond wig and a black dress," Alice said, clearly cheered up by the fact she had free reign dressing me up. I sighed. This was going to be a real bad day.

**End note: Don't forget to review, I'd love to hear what you think and hear your guesses for Bella's costume. Any ideas to who she might be?**

**Also, please check out www(dot)thefandomgivesback(dot)com it's for a really good cause!**


	3. Chapter 3 Sunday Bloody Sunday

**A/N: As always thanks to Dahlia Black for her mad beta skillz. And thanks to everyone who voted for "While She Was Away" in the Back2Skool UNFmett contest, it won judges pick for best new author, I'm still not sure it's real ;-)**

**Welcome to chapter 3, where Emmett gets the shock of his life.**

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The day after the very exhausting shopping trip with Alice and Rosalie, I managed to beat Jasper to the kitchen in the morning. It was a nice change having the kitchen all to myself. I liked Jasper's company and he made great coffee, but I really didn't need to see so much of him every morning. If only he would put clothes on before he left Alice's bedroom.

I enjoyed the quiet morning. It was Sunday so I didn't have to do anything all day something I was really looking forward to that. And after spending several hours at the mall yesterday, trying on numerous black dresses, even Alice had given up. She had decided there was no dress good enough available and that she had to make on herself instead. That would require her doing a few measurements, but I had a feeling it would be less exhausting than being dragged to the mall again. At least I hoped it would.

I had almost a full hour of alone time before Jasper entered the kitchen. To no ones surprise he was naked.

"You made coffee?" he yawned, stretching his body.

"I sure did, I got up before you for once, figured it was my turn to make it then," I replied. We had been small talking for a few minutes when there suddenly was a knocking at the door.

"Are you expecting anybody?" Jasper asked.

"No, but I'll go look. It's probably better I do it than you," I said, pointing at his naked body. He laughed and I opened the door, finding Emmett standing on the other side holding a shopping bag in his hand.

"Hi Bella. Rose asked me to drop this off, Alice left it yest... Dude! Seriously put some fucking clothes on! It hurts my eyes to watch your battle sword!" Emmett yelled as he noticed Jasper. He gestured towards Jasper's private parts while he was covering his eyes with the shopping bag. In a perfect world Emmett would just have handed me the shopping bag and then left, clearly not wanting to hang around as long as Jasper was walking around naked. This was not a perfect world. This was a world where Alice chose that exact moment to enter the kitchen, her cellphone in her hand and with panic in her voice:

"Honey, hurry up and get dressed! Rose just texted me that Emmett is on his way over, so unless you want him to find out about...." She trailed off, discovering that Emmett was already in the apartment, looking slightly confused.

"What are you talking about? Find out what? That Jasper walks around naked? I've known him for years, you know that. So what can't I find out? And why did you just call him 'honey'?"

I prayed silently that we could come up with some reasonable explanation fast so that Emmett wouldn't find out about Alice and Jasper. It was too early for drama, and I knew that this wasn't the way for Emmett to find out about his little sister and his best friend. But before any of us could find a way of explaining the situation, you could literally see how it all fell in to place in Emmett's head. It was clear that it all just clicked for him right there.

"Oh hell no!" he boomed, leaning against the counter for support.

"Jasper, get dressed," I whispered. "You do not want to have this conversation naked." Jasper hurried out and I handed Emmett a glass of water. He could probably have used something stronger, but that we didn't have anything. Alice just stood in the middle of the room, completely frozen. This was bad, this was really bad. I really wished that Rosalie had been there too, she always knew how to calm him down and control his temper.

"Come on man, it's not like this..." Jasper tried, but before he could finish the sentence, Emmett had punched him right in the face. I just stood there shocked, not knowing what to do when Alice finally pulled herself together:

"YOU IDIOT!" she screamed, "what the hell are you doing? What the fuck are you punching him for, you complete moron! What were you thinking? Do you think breaking his face would make it better? Gosh you're such a... dung beetle!" I could see Emmett's lips twist at the last word, but he quickly pulled his grave look together again.

"Look, man. We didn't want to tell you because we were afraid how you'd react. I'm really sorry, we were going to tell you. This wasn't how we wanted you to find out." Jasper said, trying to wipe some of the blood off of his face. I hurried to get him some ice wrapped in a towel for his face, hoping that it would stop the bleeding. Blood always made me nauseous.

"How. Long. Have. You. Two. Been....?" Emmett asked slowly with a dark voice, looking at Alice and Jasper who took a few steps back before he answered.

"A couple of months..." Jasper never took his eyes of off Emmett's hands, not completely sure he wouldn't be punched again.

"Are you in on this too?" Emmett asked me. I wasn't really sure how to answer that, but before I could answer, Alice did:

"It's not like it was her idea. She just found out recently that you thought she was the one dating Jasper and we asked her to play along. And don't take it out on Jasper either, I was the one who didn't want to tell you."

"You were all lying to me," Emmett said with a dark voice. He clearly wasn't responding well to this. Jasper sighed, clearly out of his comfort zone for once.

He made sure he was in appropriate distance from Emmett before he spoke:

"Dude I'm sorry. I know you'll have a hard time forgiving us for this, but it's not what you think. I love her and I..." Alice gasped before he could finish his sentence.

"You what?! What did you just say?" she asked, looking completely shell shocked. Jasper looked at her perplexed. He obviously wasn't thinking about what he was saying.

"You said you love me, didn't you? You've never said that before," Alice said quietly.

"Ehm yeah..." Jasper respnded, blushing. Alice threw herself at him and it was pure luck that he caught her, otherwise they would have crashed straight in to the wall. Alice began kissing Jasper all over, clearly forgetting that both Emmett and I were still standing there.

"Eeeew gross!" Emmett complained. He tried to continue to look upset, but the fact that his little sister and his best friend were in love definitely wasn't helping. Alice laughed, releasing herself from Jasper, all the tension in the room disappearing.

"We really are sorry Emmett, but you heard what he said, we love eachother," Alice's face was one big smile. Emmett sighed. He couldn't keep up his angry face much longer, the angry grizzly was slowly disappearing to make room for the friendly teddy bear again.

"Just don't... Just don't lie to me again!" he demanded. "Sorry about your face man," he said, nodding towards Jasper. It was clear he had forgiven all of us, Emmett could never bear a grudge for long.

"No sweat, nothing is broken," Jasper said before Alice started kissing him all over again.

"And lay off all the kissing, I really don't want to spend your entire costume party throwing up because I have to look at the two of you."

"Like the rest of us don't get sick from watching you and Rosalie make out all the time," Alice laughed, barely breaking contact with Jasper.

"That's differient," Emmett said with a cool voice, "we've got style. And I really don't want to see this, so I'm off."

"Emmett," I said, "do you mind if I come along? I have a feeling those two are going to celebrate their newly declared love for eachother and I really don't feel like being home to witness it."

"Sure Bella," he laughed, "Edward is coming over too, we were just going to watch a movie. You are always welcome." Great, from one hell to another, but I still preferred being ignored by Emoward than having to tune out Alice and Jasper.

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End note: Leave me some love please, reviews are like having Jasper naked in your kitchen every morning....


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Sorry, it's been a while. Not only is this the holiday season, but as a student it's also the season for exams, so RL caught up with me. I'll try to have chapter 5 up right before Christmas as a little present to you all.**

**Also, for those of you who were so wonderful to review the last chapter, I'm sorry if you didn't get a reply, but it kept messing up when I tried to reply. I'm sorry, I really appreciate you taken the time to review! **

**As always, major props to Dahlia Black**

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"So, is Rose coming over too?" I asked Emmett hopefully once we got to his apartment.

"No, she's at her parents for the evening. She might drop by later, though," Emmett answered.

I sighed, I had really counted on Rosalie to be there too. I didn't mind spending the afternoon with Emmett, but since Edward was coming over too. I was really dreading it

While we waited for Edward to come over, Emmett started talking about a prank he wanted to pull on Jasper and Alice. He was trying to come up with something that would really embarrass them, when the front door suddenly opened:

"Hey Em, I've rented _Die Hard_ and _Die Hard 2_ so get ready for.... Oh, you're here." Edward's face dropped when he saw me.

"Sorry," I mumbled.

"Yeah, she didn't want to endure listening to Alice and Jasper going at it so I saved the poor damsel in distress," Emmett laughed. As always he was completely oblivious to a tense situation. "Hey, did you know about those two?"

"I've been staying over there a lot so... Yes." Edward shrugged his shoulders lightly, flashing a crooked grin. A grin that quickly faded as soon as he looked in my direction and remembered that I was there too. Great, Assward was back.

We watched the two movies Edward had brought in silence. I was not really a fan of the Die Hard series, but since I had crashed their plans I didn't want to complain about their movie choices. Instead of paying much attention to Bruce Willis saving the world, or whatever it was he was doing, I started watching Edward. He was sitting next to Emmett on the couch, and it was easy for me to move my chair so it still looked like I was watching the TV screen, while I was actually watching Edward. I knew he didn't like me, but that didn't change the fact that he was very good looking.

He was concentrating on the movie, so he wasn't as tense as he usually was around me. I looked at his emerald green eyes; it would be really easy to get lost in those eyes. He had an amazing smile, perfect white teeth, full lips, I let my mind wander, thinking about what it would be like to kiss him.

_Ok, stop it Bella!_ I shuddered, I had to get my mind back on track. Good thing Edward wasn't a mind reader, I'm sure he wouldn't like that a girl he clearly hated was wondering about what it would be like to kiss him. I looked at his bronze colored hair and I really wanted to touch it; it looked so soft.

"Bella? Hello, earth to Bella?" I jumped at the sound of Emmett's voice, clearly he had been speaking to me.

"What? Sorry I got really lost in watching the...." I glanced at the screen, "credits? I couldn't remember the name of that guy," I babbled.

Emmett looked at me like I was crazy, which I might actually be.

"Alice just texted that she needs you for a dress fitting. The movies are over now anyway, so do you need me to drive you home?" Emmett asked.

"I can take her, I'm leaving anyway," Edward offered. What? Why would he do that?

"Sure, bro, that would be great," Emmett said before I had a chance to object. Great, now I would have to be entirely alone with Assward. Oh joy.

I hugged Emmett goodbye and got in the car with Edward.

"So, did you find an apartment yet?" I asked, trying to make small talk in the car.

"No."

"So, you're still staying with your parents?"

"Yes."

"I didn't know it was so hard to find an apartment." No answer. Apparently it had to be a direct question to make him answer.

"Are you looking forward to the party?" I tried.

"Sure."

"Found your costume yet?"

"Yup."

"Alice is making my dress, and I still have no clue who I'm supposed to be." That almost made him smile, but he didn't. I gave up. Clearly he didn't want to talk to me.

I was thankful that Edward's driving skills were as crazy as the rest of the family's, so at least the car ride was short.

****

"There you are!" Alice exclaimed as soon as I got inside. "What took you so long? We need to get this dress finished." She was jumping up and down. How could such a small person have so much energy?

"Relax, I'm here now. And don't tell me you spent all day waiting for me to get back? I'm sure you found something more entertaining to do. Thanks for putting clothes on, Jasper," I laughed in his direction.

"That's only 'cause he's leaving," Alice pouted.

"That's right. I'll let you ladies get on with the dress fitting. Bye darling." He kissed Alice goodbye, and winked at me before he left.

"Now, get the dress on," Alice said in a very bossy voice.

I had foolishly believed that having Alice make my dress would be a lot less exhausting than having to shop for it. I was very, very wrong. She had already made me try it on so many times, I had lost count, and each time it seemed like she made the dress just a little bit shorter.

"Is this really necessary Alice?" I sighed.

"Absolutely. You don't want your dress not to fit you do you? Besides the party is this Friday, the dress needs to be ready."

"Are you gonna tell me who I'm supposed to look like any time soon?"

"You really haven't guessed?" she asked, surprised.

"No, I really haven't."

"Then I think we should let it be a surprise just a little bit longer." Stupid annoying pixie, there was no use in arguing with her, she wasn't going tell me.

"Alice Cullen! There's really no need for this dress to be any shorter," I cried as I saw she had stitched another inch off the length.

"There actually is, it should be even shorter but I have a feeling you might not wear it then," she said.

"Well, you're right about that. I think it's about 5 inches too short already," I mumbled. "And what's this pointy thing in the front?"

"That's just how it is supposed to look. Now just stand still, so I don't stick the needles in to you by accident," she gave me a smile that made me think that if she did stab me with a needle it would not be by accident.

* * *

**Up next is the party, did you figure out what Bella didn't?**

**Leave me some thoughts, I'd love to hear what you think**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: **Happy New Year readers and welcome back! As always thanks to Dahlia Black for using her beta skills on this.

And since I'm not SM I don't own these characters, but you knew that already.

Let's check out the party shall we:

* * *

"Are you kidding me Alice? Lady GaGa? Seriously?" I looked at myself in the mirror, finally realizing who the outfit had turned me into. I was far from happy about it. Alice on the other hand was bouncing up and down with excitement.

"You look so good Bella, stop complaining about it. You lost the bet and this is what you're wearing. Now, please don't mess up the outfit while I go change." I kept looking in the mirror, taking it all in. The short blond wig, the heavy eye makeup, the fishnet stockings, the high heels and the dress. Oh horror, the dress. Way to short, strapless, black and with some weird pointy thing in front that Alice insisted was part of the look. Between the high heels and the thing in front, this dress was a sure death trap for me. There was no way I could go through the entire party without either falling or stabbing someone with thedres s, quite possibly both.

Alice came back in the room, looking absolutely gorgeous. Like a modern day pinup in bright colorful clothes. I smiled at her:

"You look beautiful Alice."

"I know, and you don't look so bad yourself either. But anyone dressed by me looks good. Would you mind go slicing up some lemons?"

"Oh I'm not doing tequila shots again," I exclaimed.

"You know, no one forced you to drink that entire bottle. But Mike Newton is coming again tonight so...." Alice trailed off, laughing. I shuddered at the memory, getting absolutely hammered on tequila and having sex with Mike Newton was not my finest hour.

"Bella, wait a second, you just need this," Alice said, spraying a little bit of her perfume on me.

"I have a perfectly fine perfume myself, why did you do that?" I asked surprised.

"Just thought you might want to smell a little different," Alice smiled a devious smile. I knew that look too well, it always meant she had an agenda of her own. I decided not to think about it, there was no way perfume could be a part of whatever evil plan she was plotting.

**

Jasper, Edward, Emmett and Rosalie were the first ones to arrive. Rosalie looked absolutely stunning as Marilyn Monroe, and Emmett looked exactly like Elvis. Jasper had basically just thrown on a leather jacket and a pair of sunglasses, claiming to be Bono, and Edward... Well Edward was something else. He had colored his bronzed hair dark and was wearing some very tight pants a long with a leather jacket. As odd as he looked I couldn't help but feel slightly turned on by it.

"Hi Bella," Rosalie greeted, "care to guess who Edward is trying to look like?"

"Honestly, I have no idea," I answered, having a hard time tearing my gaze away from the very tight pants he was wearing.

"I told you Edward, no one will get it," she said to Edward before turning back to me, "he's claiming to be Adam Lambert." Rosalie rolled her eyes, clearly she was not a fan.

I hadn't seen Edward since the strange car ride home from Emmett's, but he seemed as tense as always when he saw me. I looked down at all the lemons I had been slicing for the tequila shots, if I got drunk on tequila I would care less about Edward's strange behavior and maybe even relax a little in my dress.

"Hey Emmett, you want to do some shots?" I asked.

"Oh absolutely!" Emmett said, just managing to duck out from Rosalie's slapping hand.

Alice had invited everyone we knew, and even a few we didn't know, and soon the apartment was completely packed.

I had decided that considering the very high heels I was wearing, it was for the best if I didn't move around to much, so I stayed close to the tequila bottle in the kitchen. It actually turned out to be a pretty good spot, people would come over and chat while getting their drinks, and I had a good view over the entire apartment.

Alice and Jasper were playing spin the bottle along with a couple of others, when Emmett came over to them.

"Quick Jasper, scootch over, I want to play and Rosalie just went outside for a few minutes, so this is my chance." I giggled from my spot at the counter, I was definitely starting to feel all the tequila.

Emmett winked at a girl I didn't know, and spun the bottle around, and it pointed to Jasper. Alice started to giggle uncontrollably but Emmett just looked at her like she was crazy.

"It landed on Jasper, so clearly I get a do over," Emmett said, already reaching for the bottle.

"Oh no," Alice laughed, "there are no do overs here. You have to kiss Jasper now Emmett." She had a hard time getting the words out, she was laughing so hard.

"No way am I kissing a dude. I'm just leaving the game then," Emmett stated, getting up.

"Sorry, those are the rules Emmett. The girls kiss eachother too," Alice said, trying to control the laughter. Emmett started to look slightly scared, but Jasper looked as calm as ever. It took more than the thought of kissing Emmett to throw him off balance.

"You might as well get it over with, we're all waiting here," the girl I didn't know, said.

Both Jasper and Emmett stood up, looking each other in the eye.

"We won't ever speak of this again," Emmett said with a grave voice. Jasper just nodded and Alice threw another giggling fit.

Jasper and Emmett both sighed before leaning in towards eachother, getting ready to kiss. Just before their lips touched Emmett broke away.

"Hell no! I can't do it!"

"Phew, I thought you were going to do it man," Jasper laughed, looking slightly relieved. The girl who's name I didn't know, had a disappointed look in her eyes.

"Bella! Pour me one of those tequila shots," Emmett called. I laughed and handed him the shot. I might as well take one for myself, I thought, Emmett shouldn't have to drink alone.

While we finished the shot, I caught Alice and Edward standing together a few feet away, engaged in what looked like a silent conversation. Emmett saw me looking at them and said:

"Annoying isn't it? They do it all the time, must be a twin-thing or something. None of us ever get how they do it. None of us really care anymore either actually. Now pour me another shot before I find Rose, I need to feel like a man again." I nodded, knowing I would regret all the tequila in the morning.

After Emmett left, I was surprised to see Edward suddenly standing next to me. He didn't say anything, but he did seem to be more relaxed.

"Tequila?" I offered, not really knowing what to do with him standing so close.

"How many of those have you had?" he asked, sounding slightly amused.

I looked at the almost empty tequila bottle before shrugged my shoulders and answered:

"Not sure, about half the bottle?" Edward laughed. He was acting like a completely normal human being, that's a first.

"I haven't really seen you all night, what have you been up to?" Maybe all the tequila was making me hear stuff or was I actually having a conversation with Edward? I knew I was getting drunk, but I didn't usually hallucinate like that. He looked at me questiongly like he was waiting for an answer.

"Uhm not much. Just hanging out here, drinking tequila," I said with a sly smile. He shot a crooked smile at me, making me slightly weak in the knees. Now, that was definitely the tequila working there.

"I like your dress."

"Thanks, Alice made it for me," I said blushing.

"It looks good on you," he said in his soft voice. I had no idea how to react, he seemed completely at ease around me for once, and he was actually making conversation. Before I could come up with anything to say to him, Alice was suddenly standing next to us, holding something in her hands behind her back.

"How are you two doing?" she asked looking smug.

"Good..." I hesitated, she looked like she was up to something.

"Great! You are standing under the mistletoe, so now you have to kiss," she said, pulling a sprig of mistletoe from behind her back and holding it over our heads.

"Alice, it's not Christmas yet, that's four months away!" I said with panic in my voice.

"I didn't say anything about Christmas, did I Bella? I just said you were standing under the mistletoe so you have to kiss."

"It's ok Bella," Edward said with a smile.

"No, really, don't worry about it Edward. Go away Alice, it's not Christmas so the mistletoe doesn't count." I tried to make her disappear. Surely Edward didn't want to kiss me he, he didn't even like me. He had just started talking to me, there was no need in making this more awkward. But before I had a chance to physically kick Alice out, Edward suddenly leaning towards me, placing his hand on my waist, pulling me closer.

"Relax," he whispered, his voice soft as velvet, before he leaned in to kissed me. His lips were impossibly soft and warm as they touched mine and I felt a little jolt in the pit of my stomach as his lips lingered against mine for a moment. My breathing had stopped altogether. It was a short kiss, but it had my heart hammering in my chest.

"Isabella," he whispered in my ear, kissed my cheek and pulled away. I could feel the blush burning my face, so I looked down on the floor, not daring to look at Edward.

"I have to go now, I'll see you later Bella," Edward said softly, "Bye Alice," he called with a wink to his sister. I finally looked up and gazed at over at Alice who looked like the cat who ate the canary. That evil little pixie, she was up to no good that's for sure.

"How about you leave the poor tequila bottle alone now, and help me throw the rest of the guests out. It's getting late, and you are going to need a few hours of sleep or you'll be really sick tomorrow," Alice said before I had a chance to ask her about what in the world she was up to.

I looked at the clock and nodded. It was 4.30 in the morning and there were only a few drunk guests left. Alice was right, I would need all the sleep I could get, just to have a remote chance of feeling ok in the morning.

Alice kicked the remaining guests out of the apartment, looked at me before we simultaneously said

"We'll clean this up tomorrow."

When I finally crashed on my bed, I had expected to fall a sleep immideatly. Instead I spent a long time tossing and turning, thinking a little too much about my kiss with Edward.

* * *

**A/N:** Reviews are better than kissing Edward under the misteltoe! Also, if you want to see what these costumes look like, check my LJ profile: http://www(dot)juliebutterfly(dot)livejournal(dot)com

Also, I've posted two contest entries on my profile, the contests are over now, but I suggest you read them all the same.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: **Again, sorry it took so long but January was crazy busy with work and exams. I hope to make this worth your wait.

As always, thanks to **Dahlia Black **for her beta skills.

* * *

I spent the next week completely obsessing over the kiss I had shared with Edward. Not only did I spent a significant amount of my waking hours thinking about the kiss, I also dreamt about it at night. Always thinking about kissing him a little more. Feeling those soft lips against mine again...

It was completely insane to use so much energy on a kiss. He only kissed me because of Alice's stupid mistletoe thing. He didn't like me and I was pretty sure he didn't spend all his time thinking about kissing me again. He was probably regretting it, if anything. He hadn't been spending any time at our apartment since the party 5 days ago. I knew from what Alice told me that she had met with him a couple of times down town, so I was pretty sure he didn't come by the apartment out of fear of running into me again. Before I could get into a really obsessive mode I got distracted by the ringing phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey Bella, it's Rosalie. Jasper knows the band who's playing at _Victoria's_ later tonight. You want to go? I already called Alice and she'll catch up with us when she gets off from work."

"Sure, that sounds like fun. I'll just meet you down there, what time?"

"9-ish. Talk to you later then, bye." She hung up quickly.

I was pretty sure Edward was going to be there too, and if he ignored me, I would ignore him too. I would certainly not bring up the kiss.

For once I really wished Alice was home to help me dress. I had no idea what to wear to the _Victoria's_ and I was actually running a little late. The most annoying part was that I found myself wondering what would make me look like someone Edward wanted to kiss again. _Stop it Bella!_ I thought to myself, j_ust wear whatever you would have worn before the stupid kiss. The stupid kiss that made your heart flutter and all your dreams being about not only kissing Edward but also doing several other things to him. _

I sighed. This was not good.

I finally settled on a skirt, a blue top and a pair of black boots. I checked the mirror one last time and then rushed out of the door. Luckily the bar was right down our street, so it only took 10 minutes to walk down there.

When I got to _Victoria's _a little after 9 the band was already playing. I was sure they would all be there, but the only person I could see was Edward standing at the bar, talking to the bartender. I debated for a few seconds over what I should do. I didn't feel brave enough to go stand next to him, so the easiest thing was to leave and come back a little later when hopefully Emmett, Rosalie and Jasper would be there too. I turned around, about to leave, but too late. He had already seen me.

"Bella!" he called. I took a deep breath, turned back and walked over to him. He continued to talk to the bartender- a tall muscular guy- so I just sat down next to him, praying for the others to get there soon.

I ordered a beer from the big guy, considering for a brief second whether I should order tequila shots so I at least could be drunk quickly, but I still remembered my hangover from the theme party a little too well, so I settled for the beer. Tequila could always be my Plan B if alone time with Edward got too horrible.

I sat down and drank by beer in silence, trying to pay attention to the band that was playing. It didn't take me long to the discover the band was completely horrible. It was a weird mix of rock, folk music and techno. It made absolutely no sense and none of the band members seemed to know how to play their instruments or sing in key. After about 10 minutes of trying to endure the band Edward turned towards me.

"Enjoying the music?" he asked with a sly smile.

"Not really, no."

"You want to get out of here?" he asked. I nodded and he instantly grabbed my hand and we left the club.

"What about the others?" I asked.

"I'm sure they'll catch up with us later if they want to," he smiled, as his phone suddenly rang. He answered with his free hand, still holding mine in the other.

"Hello?.... Haha, no, I figured that much, Jasper knows better than that..." I could vaguely pick out Emmett's voice at the other end, but I couldn't hear what they were talking about. For a guy with a normally very loud voice, he sure was lowering it down tonight.

"No, she's still here.... No, I don't think so, I'm hoping not at least.... Well, you're right, I could always try that...." He trailed off, looking at me. What could he try, and why was he looking at me while he said that?

"Sure, oh absolutely," he laughed, "tell her I owe her one....True... No, I'll try but I'm not sure I'm quite ready for that yet." Who did he owe and what could he try? I really wished I was been able to hear the other end of that conversation.

"Alright, bye." He snapped the phone shut. "That was Emmett, he's having car trouble so that's why they were running late. I told them the band was crap so they just decided to stay home," he explained.

That made absolutely no sense at all. Rosalie knew more about cars than anyone, surely she would have been able to fix whatever trouble they were having, and secondly, if Emmett were having car trouble they could have just taken Rosalie or Jasper's car instead. And he hadn't said anything about the band at all during that conversation.

"You want to grab some coffee?" he asked. I nodded in response, not really sure what to say to him. Clearly he was lying about something, but he seemed to be in a good mood tonight, so I decided to play along.

He didn't let go of my hand before we reached the spot where his car was parked and that was only because it was impossible to get into the car without letting go.

"Anywhere special you'd like to go?" he asked as he got the car in gear and started driving.

"No, not really. Whatever you pick is fine." I was feeling nervous, uncomfortable and completely confused. I was so used to him being an ass around me that I suspected something was up when he was being nice to me for once. He, on the other hand, seemed completely relaxed and tried to make small talk with me. For once he was the one trying to make conversation and I was the one who answered with as little words as possible. When he finally pulled the car up next to a small coffee shop I was quick to get out of the car.

"Are you in a hurry?" he asked with a smile.

"No. I'm just... thirsty?" I didn't mean for it to sound like a question, but that was exactly how it came out.

"Let's get you something to drink then," Edward laughed. He put his hand on the small of my back and gently guided me inside. We placed our orders at the counter and found a quiet table where we could sit.

I took a deep breath to work up the courage to once again talk to him. He had been friendly enough so far, so maybe he had gotten over whatever it was he had against me.

"Any news on the apartment hunting?" I asked.

"No, sadly not. It's turning out to be a complete nightmare. Apparently it's not so easy to find an affordable apartment close to campus."

"I don't what I would have done if I hadn't been able to move in with Alice. So, is it weird being back home? Do you miss France a lot?"

It was like his mood suddenly shifted again. He had been chatty and charming right until now, but without further warning he went back to being Assward.

"No," he replied shortly.

"No, it's not weird being back home? Or no, you don't miss France?" I asked, unsure what he had meant by his reply.

"Just no," he said in an angry voice. I was taken aback by his sudden change of mood and I sank back down in my seat, uncomfortable and unsure what to do now.

"Listen Bella, I'm sorry. I thought I was ready for this, but I'm clearly not. Let me take you home." His voice was softer but he still had that hard look in his eyes. I simply nodded in response as I got up from my chair.

We walked out to his car in complete silence and he drove me back to the apartment without speaking any further. I spent the entire car ride trying to fight back tears. I was frustrated and angry and I had no idea what had just happened between us. As soon as he pulled up in front of the apartment I rushed out the car and surprisingly he followed after me.

"Bella," he pleaded as he reached out and grabbed my arm before I could make a run for it. "I really am sorry about this. It's just... I thought I was ready for it, and I'm not."

"Ready for what, Edward?" I yelled. "You keep coming up with these weird excuses and I just don't get it. Just leave me alone! Stop talking to me and especially stop being nice to me for a few minutes and then go back to being a complete ass! I don't know what it is you're not ready for and I really don't care. Just leave me alone!" I tried to get away from him, wrestling my arm free of his grasp, but instead he tightened his grip and pulled me in closer to him. He spun me around so we were standing face to face and pulled me in even closer so my face was only inches away from his.

"Let me go," I mumbled. "Edward...." I didn't finish the sentence. I wanted to tell him that I had enough of him and his mood swings, that I just wanted him to leave me alone and that I didn't want anything more to do with him. Instead I looked up, right into his green eyes. I tried to look away but I was completely mesmerized by his eyes.

"Edward, I..." I tried again, but before I could get the rest of the words out he crashed his lips into mine. I wanted to pull away from him but my body betrayed me completely and instead of backing away I pressed my body further into his. I gave in to the kiss and parted my lips slightly, feeling his hot tongue enter my mouth. He let go of my arm and as our tongues were fighting for control, he let his hands slide down to my waist. He gently pushed my top up a little so his fingers were touching my bare skin and where his fingers touched it set my body on fire. He moved his mouth away from mine, placing soft butterfly kisses along my cheekbone and down my neck. My head fell back a little and I let out a small whimper at his actions. His mouth found mine again and he grabbed me firmly by the hips and pushed me up against his car, his lips never leaving mine. In one quick movement he pushed my top over my head and the contrast between the cold steel of the car and the warmth of Edward's body made me gasp out loud. He placed wet, open mouthed kisses all the way from my neck and down to my bellybutton and I moaned loudly at his touch. His lips met mine again and I let my hands trail down to his waist, fighting with his belt buckle and finally pulling his pants down.

"Are you sure?" he whispered softly in my ear and I nodded in response. Right then and there, I didn't care at all that he was an ass and I didn't like him. I didn't care that we were standing against his car in a parking lot in front of my apartment and that if any of my neighbors looked out the window they would see us. All I wanted was to feel him inside me. He lifted me up to the hood of the car and pushed my skirt up and my panties aside, I grabbed the waistline of his boxers and let them slowly slide down his legs taking in his erection with my eyes. I bit on my lower lip as I glanced up and down his body. I looked up to meet his eyes and saw he was looking at me with a large grin on his face. I blushed at the eye contact and looked down again. He leaned into me again and kissed me eagerly. He placed his hands on my knees and gently parted my legs aside and in one quick thrust he pushed inside me. I moaned into his mouth as I felt him filling up my body completely.

He flicked my clit with his thumb and the very movement was almost enough to send me over the edge.

"Cum for me Bella," he moaned in my ear. I could feel my walls starting to tighten around him and when he rubbed my clit again it was enough to make me come right there on the hood of his car. I bit down on his shoulder as I felt my orgasm take over. With one final thrust he released himself inside me and he came with a loud roar.

We were both gasping for air when he slowly pulled out of me and we both started locating out clothes.

"That was.... unexpected," I mumbled as I located my top.

"I'll say that," he laughed and buckled his belt again, "I should probably get going though." He pulled me back in for a quick kiss before he got in the car and drove off. I stood on the parking lot and watched him leave.

Maybe I hadn't had quite enough of Edward Cullen just yet.

* * *

**A/N:** Thoughts? Comments? Did you see this coming?


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: I apologieze for not having updated this in forever, real life and writers block got in the way. Anyway, here it is. As usual I don't own the twilight characters and my eternal gratitude to Dahlia Black for betaing this

* * *

As I walked towards the apartment I started to comprehend the events that had just occurred. Had I really just had sex with Edward Cullen? On his car? In a parking lot where we could very easily have been caught? I seriously hoped none of my neighbours had witnessed this little scene, I would never be able to live thorugh the humiliation if it was the case. And on top of everything, had he really just driven away? It sure seemed like it, and I didn't really know what to make of any of it at all.

It was a good thing my feet knew the way to the apartment because I sure wasn't paying attention to where I was going - not even when I got to the apartment and almost crashed into Alice and Rosalie in the hallway.

"What are you doing here? Why aren't you out with-" Alice asked.

"What are _you_ doing here?" I interrupted in surprise, not expecting to see any of them.

"I live here. We're roommates, remember?"

"No I mean - wait what are _you_ doing here?" I demanded, looking pointedly at Rosalie. "I thought you had car trouble? What's going on?"

"What are you talking about? My car is fine," Rosalie replied. By the way she was looking at me I could tell that she thought I had finally lost it. I might as well have, I had no idea what was going on anymore, so I just continued to stare at them in hopes of someone might explain it all to me soon. Neither of them offered any explanation so I just continued to ask.

"But Edward said you had car trouble and that's why you guys couldn't meet us at that bar? And now you're here and I don't get it. You need to explain this to me because my brain seriously can't handle any more guessing." I could hear the slight edge of panic in my voice as I sank to the floor because my legs just couldn't hold me up any longer.

"Bella, relax, no need to freak out here. I don't know what Edward told you, but my car is perfectly fine. I never said anything about meeting you at _Victoria's_ though," Rosalie explained.

"Yes, you did. You called me and asked if I wanted to meet you guys later and I said yes and then none of you showed up," I insisted.

"No, I didn't." Rosalie's voice was completely calm and I was beginning to think that maybe I was imagining all of this. It was probably for the better if it really was just my imagination, it might make me insane but I was starting to think it was worth it.

"Yes you-"

"No. I didn't. I called you and asked if you wanted to go out tonight. You just assumed that we would be meeting you there and I didn't correct you. It's not like you were alone or anything. Edward was there, right? I'll kick his ass if he screwed this up!" Rosalie's voice had a hard edge to it and I could tell she was starting to get irritated.

"No, he was there-"

"Which leads me back to my original question," Alice interrupted. "What are you doing here and why aren't you out with my brother?"

"I was but... I don't know Alice..." I sighed, not really sure what to tell her.

"He didn't tell you, did he?" Rosalie asked. I shook my head although I wasn't sure what she was referring to. "You need to tell her, Alice. At least the short version. He had his chance and didn't take it. She deserves to know." She sounded determined and Alice nodded to her in agreement. Rosalie started to gather her stuff and Alice tried to pull me off the floor.

"Come on, Bella, let's talk. I'll make us some tea." Rosalie left quietly and I followed Alice and sank down on our couch completely exhausted while she prepared the tea.

She came back with two big mugs and I took mine gratefully. At least it was something steady to hold on to. Right now I barely knew what was up or down anymore.

"So," she began. "I take it Edward didn't explain it to you?"

"Explained what to me exactly? Could you please just tell me what's going on, I'm to exhausted from guessing and trying to figure out who said what and who didn't."

"Well, as you noticed Edward has been... um... a little tense around you," she began and I rolled my eyes in response. Tense was probably the understatement of the year. "My brother is usually a really sweet guy but he has his reasons for his recent behavior. I'm not going to go all into details here, because I really do feel he should tell you all this himself but he had his chance tonight and he didn't take it and you deserve to know what's going on." She paused and took a sip of her tea before she continued.

"Shortly after Edward arrived in Paris he met this French girl, Marie, in one of his classes. They hit it off instantly and fell in love. Things seemed to be going really well between them and Edward actually talked about staying in France and finishing his degree over there, but because of some administrative university reasons Edward would have to come back as he had originally planned, to finish up some classes here, and then he could go back to France the next semester. They both seemed fine with it, and according to Edward they were both really committed to make the relationship work. Two weeks before he came home he called and told us that he was coming home for good and that he wouldn't be going back to France after all, but he didn't want to tell us the reason why. When he finally came back he told us that he had caught Marie cheating on him, and apparently she had been for a while when he found out. Not only did she cheat on him, but right after Edward found out, Marie suddenly clamed she was pregnant and that it was Edward's baby. I'm not sure of all the details here, but it turned out she was lying about it to make Edward stay with her. Needless to say he was pretty freaked out about the whole thing. " She paused to take drink some more of her tea and I felt like I had to fill the silence.

"Well that's really awful, but I fail to see how this has anything to do with me?" I hesitated. I did feel for him but I didn't see how that in any way could have anything to do with his behaviour towards me. Afterall, _I _wasn't the one who had cheated on him and faked a pregnancy.

"I'm getting to that part. Now you have to know that none of us never actually met Marie. When mom and dad went to visit Edward around Christmas she was visiting her family as well, we've only seen some random pictures of her occasionally, but none of us really thought about it before Edward mentioned it." She hesitated and looked over at me nervously, clearly not sure how to proceed. I still had no idea how to react to this and I still couldn't see the connection, so I just waited for her to go on.

"The thing is Bella... She kind of looks like you."

"So?" I asked. "Lots of girls have long brown hair or brown eyes, I don't really think thats uncommon in France. Lots of girls have that here as well, I don't think this justifies his behavior."

"It's not just the hair or the eyes although that's certainly similar. It's... Well it's everything really. She's taller than you are and she has higher cheekbones, but other than that. You two look exactly the same. So everytime Edward sees you, he's reminded of her and what she did to him. I'm not saying that this allows him to be a jerk around you, but he needs some time to get used to this. He was so in love with this girl and she really hurt him. He likes you, it's just hard for him to be around you. I know it's hard not to take this personal, but try not to."

"How can I not take this personal, Alice? I remind him of some cheating whore who broke his heart. I can't deal with this right now, it's just too much."

"Bella..." she began but trailed of.

"I just need to be alone," I announced as I got up. "And the next time you spring something like this on me, I need alcohol -not tea." I added the last part with a smile. I wasn't mad at her, I wasn't even sure I was mad at Edward, I was just tired and my brain was about to explode. Alice just nodded. She was my best friend and she knew me well enough to give me space when I needed it.

I went to my room and practically collapsed on my bed. I was mentally exhausted but my brain was too busy to rest. I located my iPod and cranked up the volume in hopes of tuning out my thoughts. When I finally fell asleep that night I dreamt of Edward Cullen.

xxxxx

I woke up way too early the next morning. I tried to go back to sleep, but everything that had happend last night started to replay in my brain and I knew it was a lost cause. I got up and dressed quietly, trying not to wake Alice. I skipped breakfast and even coffee; I just needed to get away for a bit and I could always pick coffee up somewhere along the way. I got into my car and decided to just drive off to somewhere. It really didn't matter where to as long as it was away.

I had only been driving for about half an hour when my car started to act out. I just barely managed to pull over before it completely died on me. I got out the car and noticed smoke coming out of the engine.

"Stupid piece of crap!" I yelled and kicked the tire so hard I manged to hurt my foot.

"Do you need some help?" I tuned around and stared into a pair of unfamiliar brown eyes.

* * *

end note: So, there you have it. You now know what's been up with Edward. Thoughts?

Also, if you want you can come chat with me on twitter, I'm jools_dk there. You can also yell at me for writing so slow if you prefer ;)


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